selvaraja somiah’s twisted thoughts

Me, just an ordinary Penangite who spent a good part of my learning life in North Borneo and Kathmandu. I’m a geologist turned freelance writer who’s joining the blog sphere now. What I post are my general views, my ramblings, and opinions of my thoughts of what is happening in my country. You are welcome to write your comments, but seditious and racial remarks will be deleted. I am no big writer but will try my best to provide my thoughts with my simple English. I welcome suggestions and opinions on my blog so that it can be improved further for the benefit of all.

The MCLM website is in the process of being set up (http://mclm.org.uk/). Once the MCLM website is launched the movement’s mission and vision statement will be available for all to read and the signing up as member will be made possible. Will keep everyone updated of the progress once we hear word from Raja Petra Kamarudin.

Come, lets participate in the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement and help push Malaysia towards seeing that change that we want so badly.

This by-election in Batu Sapi is seeing an unprecedented amount of activity on the part of the educated Urban Sabahan – Young and Old. There is a never-seen-before sense of wanting change, wanting change from the present to a rosier, better future! First time voters mostly MalaysiaToday Readers and FaceBook Users could make this by-election an election where the urban voter and indeed the young vote count!

The rhetoric and sloganeering of Political parties and willing internet portals and media continue unabated and doesn’t make the choice of who to cast your vote for easier and as one young first time voter-to-be asked me in Sandakan quite innocently – how do I decide who to vote for ba?

Actually the answer to this question is far simpler than you think.

Anyway, I just got back from Sandakan. Batu Sapi to be exact.

Batu Sapi by-elections has a day to conclude, polling day is this November 4th and that’s Deepavali eve. This parliamentary seat has 25,582 voters comprising 15,099 or 59.02 per cent are Muslim bumiputeras, 689 or 2.69 are non-Muslim bumiputeras, 9,737 or 38.06 per cent are Chinese and 57 or 0.22 per cent are others.

This is going to be a close contest between SAPP’s Taiko Yong Teck Lee and PBS/BN’s Datin Linda Tsen Thau Lin who is said to be the favourite in the race and I can say for sure she is going to win, and my friend the third contender, Lawyer Ansari from PKR, is having an uphill battle and unlikely to make any impact in this election since falling 2 times into the sea during campaigning.

Normally the voter turnout hovers between 65% to 70% here in Batu Sapi. So at 65% to 70% about 12,000 to 13,000 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots on Nov 4, and this is not going to be a very close call.

Would like to talk a little bit about Taiko Yong Teck Lee mainly because he is giving the other contenders in this by-election a run, which he thinks he does as he is bragging openly that he is going to win. But I doubt it.

Yong Teck Lee unveiled his slogan which he is using to contest this by-election – “Sabah For Sabahans” “Autonomy For Sabah”. Yong Teck Lee in fact hijacked this slogan from PBS as it was the same battle-cry of the Parti Bersatu Sabah 25 years ago that saw PBS unseat the Parti Berjaya state government in 1985.

Yong Teck Lee is also urging voters to take a second look at his SAPP and he has accused the BN and PKR being a Westmalaysian party, which is, but true.

But he was together with all of them in one big BARISAN family and was even made Chief Minister for 2 years and had all the chance to highlight all the issues and get the attention of the Federal Government during his many years as part of the ruling coalition, but he did not do so. Yong Teck Lee NEVER raised the issues he is now shouting so loudly about when he was a state minister, deputy chief minister and later as chief minister. How come?

I have a few more questions for Yong Teck Lee.

I wanna know Datuk Yong, before you stepped down as chief minister, how many acres of Sabah agricultural land were given to west Malaysian companies during your 2-year term as chief minister? Plenty right!

How may acres of coastal lands were given to companies and individuals during your 2-year term as chief minister? Most of Kota Kinabalu sea frontage all gone right!

How many acres of forest reserves were given away as Forest Management Units (FMU) and as individual logging concessions during your 2-year term as chief minister? 100,000 acres? More like 100,000 hectares right!

How many logging licenses were issued to private companies to harvest logs from areas within FMUs during your term of office? 50?

What action has been taken during your 2-year term as chief minister to rescue the unit value of Saham Amanah Sabah (SAS) which now stands at a mere 17 cents per unit???? No? Yes?

In my opinion, SAPP is trying to remain unaligned in the hopes that they can opt to join the winning side in the next GE. I doubt SAPP is really committed to reforms of any kind. As far as I can tell, SAPP’s platform is not for support of reforms in our political, judicial and justice system in Malaysia. I wouldn’t give parliamentary seats to SAPP unless SAPP agrees to champion reforms for the entire nation and not just for Sabah.

Parliamentary By-election is always a referendum on the incumbent KL Government, in this case, the Najib government! Similarly State by-elections are a referendum on the performance of Musa Aman State government! Therefore the question to ask yourself before you vote in the coming days is – Are you happy with the performance of the Najib’s Government over its term or do you want Change? Similarly, are you happy with the performance of Najib’s CEO for Sabah Musa Aman?

So either you are amongst those Sabahans, who have followed the Internet and read MalaysiaToday or the newspapers and agree that Premier Najib ran a great government and deserves to be given a pat and Musa Aman his CEO for Sabah is also doing a great job and should be supported with a win in this by-election.

Or you are amongst those who think that – a government with each minister pursuing his own agenda, the cash for votes enabled confidence vote victory in Parliament, allegations of fixing the Judiciary by its own Political ally, constantly changing political alliances/partners with no constant ideology, a derailed economy with concerns of security, illegals and joblessness – are not signs of great achievement then you say Thanks but no thanks to another term and get change!

And if you are amongst the second category of Sabahans, Who do you vote in as the change?

Ask the same questions – With the 150,000 Filipinos waiting to come into Sabah, at our borders, with failed/ unstable Philippines around us – Who will provide us the leadership for a secure Sabah? Who can take our economy and the increasing joblessness and revive the economy with strong, decisive steps? Who can take our broken Government and fix it and make it more accountable and responsive to all of us? Who can put a stop to the illegals coming into Sabah once and for all? Yes, only Musa Aman can do it. Remember, after all, Musa Aman is doing a fantastic job for Sabah and history has shown us that no other chief ministers from Sabah, from Tun Mustapha right up to Pairin Kitingan to Chong kah Kiat or even Haris Salleh could ever match Musa Aman’s performance index since taking over in 2003. This by-election is not about PBS but its about Musa Aman and his role in the development of Sabah and his role in helping Premier Najib achieve 1Malaysia objectives.

Like this:

Guys should hear this. The Surgeon Razali Ibrahim, who had examined Saiful Bukhary Azlan for signs of sodomy, told the High Court that it was not easy to carry out the proctoscopy examination on Saiful, even with the use of a lubricant.

He related that it took him two tries to insert the proctoscope — a narrow, hollow and transparent cylindrical tube made of plastic that looks similar to a test tube — into Saiful’s asshole.

Razali said the first time he used a saline lubricant, but found he could go only a short distance inside Saiful’s asshole; so he switched to a gel-based lubricant for a deeper probe.

Razali Ibrahim also told the court that any sudden introduction of any instrument into the asshole would likely cause injury to the sphincter, a sensitive body part. Saiful’s ass was not injured looks like by the insertion of proctoscope by Razali.

It seems Saiful had not complained of pain during his asshole examination by the surgeon.

Wow! the fate of Malaysia is determined by Saiful’s asshole!

Well done Saiful, you have the most famous asshole in the world. You promoted Malaysia to the whole world. The Minister of Tourism should recommend a title for you now.

We all know politicians speak with “forked-tongues”. But let us not forget that they speak to the rakyats to get their message across. Real or perceived, we all get a different message. No one likes to hear that Malaysia is going bankrupt in 10 years time or it is going to be “belt tightening time again, after all that does not win votes for UMNO. The reality of the matter is that NO ONE wants to “bell the cat”, we all want everything and we all want it now, therefore the politicians have been “kicking the beer can” down the road, hoping that by some magical wave Malaysia’s financial troubles would be solved by the creation of some 100 storey mega tower. It seems there would be a spin-off and 5 Billion spent would benefit all the poor in Kuala Lumpur. What rubbish!

Let me tell Premier Najib right now, wake up and smell the debt! This is not going to happen. Our resources are depleting at a great speed. Malaysia’s debts last year stands at RM 362.39 BILLION. You can ask your Younger Brother Nazir.

UMNO and Barisan National are all guilty of spending like drunken sailors, without regard of tomorrow. Well now its tomorrow and our children have to pay the piper. Deal with it.

No one man or government could do what the past government under Dr Mahathir for 22 years have done without consequences. This is record. Dr Mahathir’s government have squandered and raped the country, they have encouraged or turned a blind eye to corruption, they spent our money because in their minds it was not theirs, it was the “government’s” to do as they pleased. But in reality it was “OURS” and we should have thrown them out from government a long time ago instead of just accepting this waste and corruption. So in all respects we are to blame. We lost countless BILLIONS. Petronas money just evaporated in thin air. Thanks to Dr Mahathir for that.

We have been brainwashed to follow the government’s example of spending more than we earn. This was Dr Mahathir’s hallmark for 22 years. Now 2010, the disease is so widespread. And Najib is following his Mentor’s example.

Well now the bill is due and we have to pay the piper. It’s RM 14 thousand each one of us owe. Yes, RM14,000 to be exact and you can times it by 26 million people.

So my friends, don’t expect the government or politicians to become our saviour, we have to save ourselves by hard work and living within our means. We have to demand that the government do the same and give us value for the money they spend in every thing they do in our name.

So, No more MEGA MEGA PROJECTS!

So lets start now. This is the petition to our Premier Najib Tun Razak to Abolish the Proposed Development of 100 Storey Mega Tower in Kuala Lumpur. I have signed and I’m number 1697. Please do your part by signing too.

To: The Prime Minister and Government of Malaysia

The Prime Minister of Malaysia on 15 October 2010 during his tabling of the Budget 2011 in the Parliament has announced to build the Warisan Merdeka, which will be undertaken by Permodalan Nasional Berhad. This is an integrated development comprising a 100 storey tower, which will be the tallest building in Malaysia, replacing the 88 storey Kuala Lumpur City Centre. The total projected cost of the project is RM5billion and the 100 storey tower is expected to be completed by 2015. Development of the entire project is scheduled to go on until 2020.

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The Best Choice!

VOTE NURUL FOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT!

Also got word that 10 Divisions in Sabah has so far indicated that they would nominate Nurul for Deputy President. In Sarawak too, about 12 Divisions so far has indicated that they would nominate Nurul. This means Nurul has more than enough nominations for the Deputy Presidents post.

There are good leaders and bad leaders in every society, just like good guys and bad guys. That is why I try my best at any opportunity to appreciate and praise the goodness in some people and give credit when a credit is due to some although they are not so good leaders. It is in human nature that those who do good are always remembered with fond memory for a very long time. The bad leaders are cursed in our prayers forever because they harm and change individual or societal development. Those who had suffered in Sabah under Tun Mustapha will curse him forever. And equally those who suffered under various bad leaders in Kuala Lumpur who made terrible decisions for Sabah will be cursed forever.

Anyway, Sabah’s problems in the main include corruption and indiscipline, a disease picked up from UMNO’s 53 years in power even though Sabah joined the Federation only 47 years ago. This disease is like plague and its spreading like wild fire. Almost every Sabahan you meet complains about corrupted politicians and civil servants, even those who are suppose to curb corruption – like the MACC aka ACA, it seems cannot be trusted.

Some politicians and public servants give us illusion, not solution, but mere promises and deceits, and UMNO is the GURU for this. They invent spin to what they are doing or not doing but the people know reality and delusion.

My article today I choose to pick on work of Musa Aman, the Chief Minister of Sabah since 2003. Musa Aman will be the longest serving chief minister of Sabah if he completes this full term, which most likely he would when the full term ends in 2013.

Today I want to praise Chief Minister Musa Aman’s initiatives a bit. I’m serious about this. No I’m not joking!

First, Musa Aman’s innovative and sustainable forest management solutions needs praises. Yes. Musa Aman’s work with Yayasan Sabah which is the largest forest concessionaire in Sabah and the way he managed and protected core forest reserves to ensure the responsible management of “working forests” that gives Sabah timber, jobs, sustainable economies, wildlife habitat, fresh water and a stable climate, needs praises. Truly Musa has done a fantastic job here compared with the earlier chief ministers who were only good in cutting down the trees and had absolutely no ideas at all on forest conservation.

A total of some 4.6 million hectares of forest reserves or about 70% of the total Sabah’s landmass is forest. Yayasan Sabah is responsible for the management of approximately 1 million hectares of forest in Borneo, including forests in the Danum Valley, Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon, and is the home to the highest biodiversity in Sabah. Musa Aman has actually done some good conservation work here. Need to acknowledge this.

The Danum Valley Conservation Area, the brainchild of Musa Aman, one of the last pristine lowland tropical rainforests which is roughly 80,000 acres of formerly logged forest is home to one of the highest concentrations of orangutans in the world and has clouded leopards, pygmy elephants and over 300 bird species inhabiting in this area. Thanks to Musa Aman, a deal was made possible between an American group and the Sabah state government to restore and protect this 80,000 acres of badly logged forest. Eco Products Fund a private equity fund which is jointly managed by New Forests Inc. of Washington, D.C. and Equator Environmental, LLC of New York City, join hands with the Government of Sabah for this purpose. Hence, the Malua Wildlife Habitat Conservation Bank or Malua BioBank was setup with multimillion dollar investment to restore and protect the roughly 80,000 acres of the formerly logged forest. Nothing like this has ever been done for the biodiversity in tropical rainforests.

Then again last August, another milestone was achieved when Musa Aman set aside another 22,000 hectares, about the size of Penang island, of primary forests for protection in the “HEART” or Heart of Borneo (HOB). This has raised the forest protection figure to 1.2 million hectares, leaving 2.7 million hectares of other forests for commercial use – logging and agriculture. The “HEART” stretches from the north of Sabah down to the south-west of Borneo, some 85 sq miles. Here are South-East Asia’s last swathes of virgin jungle and it has the tallest rainforests in the world and the largest of many things in the wild; the most endangered plant life and animals such as the orang-utans, sun bears, pygmy elephants and Sumatran rhinoceros are all here.

So it is a fact that under Musa Aman much is done for forest conservation to keep the rainforests from devastation and the idea to reconnect forests by building wildlife corridors so that animals such as the orang-utans that are driven to extinction may have a better chance of survival in a bigger and better habitat, and this is fantastic.

From forest lets now move to the Sabah’s economy.

It is true that Sabah’s economy was in the doldrums when Musa took over to became Sabah’s 14th Chief Minister. The treasury had a deficit of about RM3 Billion at that time. But after Musa Aman took over the reins of the state government the state treasury was having a surplus of more than RM500 million every year. The state coffers has recovered. Currently, the state reserves stand at about RM3 billion, the highest in Sabah’s history.

I remember, at that time when Musa Aman took over the state there was hardly any money in the treasury and the government could not even pay creditors because the state reserves were down to only RM168 million. It was true that even the state-owned Yayasan Sabah was almost bankrupt and could not even pay salaries and had to release many of the staff on some incentive for early retirement through a scheme VSS (Voluntary Separation Scheme). Today, Yayasan Sabah’s fortune has also changed dramatically with Musa at the helm. Through Musa’s excellent business and financial acumen, he has turnaround Yayasan Sabah by reorganising Yayasan’s many business operations and making many of them highly profitable. Today, even Yayasan Sabah as a group has a reserve of RM3 billion, a far cry from 2003 when it did not even have money for staff salaries.

Despite his excellent socio-economic transformation of Sabah, Musa is still perceived negatively due to his links with some controversial chinese timber tycoons. I have written much about this.

Whatever said and done Musa has brought much infrastructure development to the rural as well as urban areas to eradicate poverty, building low-cost houses for them and giving them land under a communal title to cultivate oil palms and rubber so that the lives of the people will change for the better.

It’s not wrong to say that all the Chief Ministers before Musa Aman were spending the state funds as though there was no tomorrow.The most startling was during Datuk Harris Salleh’s tenure. He was good at building multi-billion-ringgit grandiose projects that brought the state to the brink of bankruptcy. So much so that Sabah did not have the money to even administer Labuan island and he Datuk Harris happily gave away Labuan to the Federal Government without asking for any compensation for the cession.

In constrast, Musa Aman is making money for Sabah through his sound halatuju development framework.

The talk about our Premier Najib removing Musa Aman as chief minister of Sabah and replacing him with Shafie Apdal is going to be disastrous for Sabah if it ever happens. The talk is 150,000 from Southern Philipines all Shafie’s type are waiting to move into Sabah through the east coast if Shafie Apdal is made the Chief Minister of Sabah. This is going to be real bad for Sabah. As it is, there are already close to a million Mykad holding illegals mainly Filipinos and Indonesians and they have outnumbered Sabahans and thanks to Dr Mahathir for this.

Najib should just continue with Musa Aman as Chief Minister as he is doing a good job so far, in spite of all the negativity.

Longest chief minister? Certainly. Clever and canny? Absolutely. Polite? Without doubt. More control than anyone in state politics? No question. Could he change Sabah? Yes. For the better? You judge.

If Sabah gets a crazy Luddite to rule after the next election, who will Sabahans blame? Think.